I live in Seattle, a city known for rainy days and craft beer. I like it here, and while I'm a long way from my beloved Minnesota Twins, the Mariners community here in Seattle is quite welcoming. After watching the Twins fall to the Tigers on Opening Day I headed over to the open house held at Safeco Field.

(this post originally appeared at http://www.baseballtwins.com)

The Mariners opened the stadium at 6pm with free admission for all fans, free parking and 5-dollar beers all evening. 15,000+ Mariner fans showed up to watch the game on the newly installed jumbo tron, the biggest in all of baseball. I got a chance to walk around the warning track and enjoy a wide variety of craft beers around the stadium before finding a seat and watching Felix Hernandez stifle the Oakland Athletics. I even picked up a Seattle Pilots cap which I'll be sporting around Seattle in the days and weeks ahead. The Pilots, who left Seattle after one season to become the Milwaukee Brewers, had one of my favorite caps in MLB history (http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1915837&CAWELAID=1808382631&cagpspn=pla).

A big thank you to the Mariners for putting on the Open House. It was fun being able to walk around the warning track and take in the new additions to Safeco field. There's a great patio seating section in Center field now that they've moved the fences in, and Seattle legend Edgar Martinez was on hand signing autographs and taking pictures in Edgar's lounge. A neat way for Seattle fans, and baseball fans of all sorts, to get back into the baseball mode.

It was fun being back in a major league ball park watching baseball. And while I didn't get to see the Twins or the Mariners play in person, the huge screen, the roar of the crowd, the smell of hot dogs, beer and fresh grass was enough to have be back in baseball heaven after a long and somewhat depressing off-season. Baseball is back, and I'm looking forward to another season of America's pastime.